dr Jan Smoleński

I am a political scientist specializing in political theory and comparative politics. I teach courses in American Political Thought as well as American politics past and present. In my current research I explore topics of democracy, popular sovereignty, federalism, and constitution of political space. I am finishing my dissertation at the New School for Social Research in which I investigate the conceptual and normative underpinnings of federalism as an alternative to the modern State. As a side project I am investigating colonial and imperial epistemologies and imaginaries embedded in American International Relations theories. Before joining the American Studies Center I was a journalist writing for various outlets (including Krytyka Polityczna and Tygodnik Powszechny) and a communications specialist.

Achievements

“Westplaining: Colonial Matrices, Imperial Imaginaries, and Flawed Policy Proposals”, Invited Inaugural Lecture in the Decolonizing Europe Lecture Series at Indiana University, Bloomington, 2023

Katarzyna Kalwinska Fellowship at the New School for Social Research, 2017-2018

Visiting Student, Centro de Investigación y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, 2016

Janey 2014 Summer Research Grant – 2014 Janey Fellow, New School for Social Research, 2014

Fulbright Self-Placed Graduate Student Award – Fullbright Fellow, 2012-2013

Publications

with Jan Dutkiewicz “Epistemic Superimposition: The War in Ukraine and the Poverty of Expertise in International Relations Theory.” forthcoming in: Journal of International Relations and Development,

with Jan Dutkiewicz ‘The American Pundits Who Can’t Resist ‘Westsplaining’ Ukraine.’ The New Republic. March 4, 2022

“Challenging the Sovereign: Three Types of Early Modern Federal Theory.” Politik, Vol. 19. No. 3, 2016

“Substantive equality, popular sovereignty, and antagonistic politics: An introduction to Carl Schmitt’s democratic theory.” CEU Political Science Journal, Vol. 7, No. 3, September 2012

“Chantal Mouffe vs. Carl Schmitt: The Political, Democracy, and the Question of Sovereignty.” Internetowy Magazyn Filozoficzny Hybris 16/2012

Courses (selected)

American Federalism

American Political Thought

American History and Society

Conceptualizing American Political Sphere

American Expansion

Politics in the Age of Social Media, Fake News, and Conspiracy Theories

Hobbies/non-academic interests

cooking, martial arts